Back from the DPRK

Just got back to Beijing after 8 days/7 nights in North Korea. It’s a pretty weird feeling to have freedom of movement and to feel comfortable speaking freely again here in the “kinder, gentler” Chinese communism. Let’s call it “Communism Lite.” Really though, all the jokes about the Chinese being such great capitalists…. the same jokes can’t be made about the DPRK. It’s the real deal there, and it’s sobering.

As for our visit though, it was a complete success. No complaints from either of us. We haven’t gotten much sleep in the past week because they’ve been cracking the whip, keeping us on schedule. We went all over the DPRK and saw a lot of things: temples, monuments, museums, tombs, “stores,” mountain hiking, the DMZ and JSA…. and let’s not forget the Arirang Mass Games. We saw them twice, the first on opening night! …and I just might have been shown on DPRK state television too =)

I did some journaling while we were there, and took tons of pictures and video. It’ll take me a little bit to get that organized, and I’ll post everything as soon as I can. In the meantime….

7 Responses to Back from the DPRK

I’ve been anxiously await your post on the DPRK. Glad you both made it back to China safe and sound. I watched a documentary not long ago on the mass games and always thought it’d be amazing to see in person. Can’t wait to hear about it.

Hey guys, welcome back! How was it in there? Having someone escort you around everywhere and keeping you around a leash had to have been quite a bother. What were the people like there, calm and friendly or nervous and anxious? It’s always a mystery when it comes to countries that have the borders closed to foreigners and media.

Glad you guys got out safe and that everything went well for you guys =D

Yoyo, it was strange, but I sort of got used to it. In a way, it was almost like feeling like a child. If we forgot anything, or lost anything, no worries. Somewhere, someone caught it on video, and we could get our “lost” posession back. Lol